


Breaking Point

by Comicsohwhyohwhy



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Angst, Everyone Needs A Hug, Everything is awful, Hurt, I am just skipping it, M/M, Not A Fix-It, Steve Needs a Hug, Superior Iron Man, Tony Needs a Hug, hickman, tw abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2014-11-07
Packaged: 2018-02-24 12:52:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2582075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Comicsohwhyohwhy/pseuds/Comicsohwhyohwhy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is in his cell, and Steve seems to be losing it. Carol has to make a decision.</p><p>Draws on everything by Hickman in Avengers and New Avengers, specifically on Avengers 37.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breaking Point

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for beta and long discussions about English tenses to [Iloome](http://archiveofourown.org/users/iloome/pseuds/iloome) :)

Carol takes a deep breath, but before she can ready herself for what she knows will be a very uncomfortable confrontation, Steve kicks open the door. It smashes against the wall with a loud clank as he steps inside. Carol follows immediately behind him.

“Wake up.” Steve’s voice sounds icy.

The man on the bed scrambles into a sitting position, holding the thin blanket to his body and blinking confusedly into the light Steve is shining right at him. Carol swallows. The cell doesn’t seem to have electric lighting. How long has it been since he last really saw his surroundings instead of wasting away in darkness…

Tony looks unkempt and unhealthy. His goatee is out of shape and his hair is quite long. His face looks washed out. He is probably suffering from withdrawal symptoms, locked up like that, considering that he had been drinking again before they caught him.

While Tony’s mind had been addled, a state that had lasted for months after the confrontation with the Red Skull, he had always looked impeccable, seducing men and women left and right, drinking champagne and apparently on top of his game. But at some point, the effect wore off, and suddenly things spiraled out of control. And Tony, who had always been several steps ahead of Steve, the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., appearing only on footage from different parties but always already back in hiding by the time they arrived, let himself get caught.

Seeing him like that, cowering on a rudimentary bed in a barren cell, Carol feels a little guilty. She can’t keep herself from wishing that he was still running free.

“I want information.” Steve’s face is hard, no trace of emotion as he looks at his friend in this pitiable state.

Tony raises his hands to his eyes, rubbing them. When he lowers them again and looks at Steve, there is an almost palpable sense of tiredness about him. “Steve. Carol.”

“Information, Stark.” Carol sees how Steve balls his hands into fists at the mention of his name, but his voice is still cold and businesslike. How different from the way he used to talk to Tony…

Tony sighs. “On what?”

Carol tenses up. Tony must know what Steve is referring to. He is provoking him. And that isn’t good.

Sure enough, there is a note of anger in Steve’s voice when he replies. “You know exactly what I am talking about. I want to know where the rest of the Illuminati are hiding.”

Tony laughs, but there is no trace of joy in his voice, only bitterness. “When you caught me, did it look like I was still an active member of that group to you?”

Carol looks at the floor, thinking back to the moment they found Tony, all alone and desperate on a razed world. No, he didn’t look like a man who had any sort of support structure. Maybe Cho wasn’t lying after all and Tony had left the Illuminati… or been cast out.

“You are lying. I know you are in touch with Richards, at the very least. He has been using your Dyson sphere. How else would he have gotten access to it, if it wasn’t you who gave him the data?” Steve looks determined and utterly sure of what he is saying.

“Reed is a smart guy, Steve. They all are. They don’t need me around to figure that out.” Tony’s voice is devoid of emotion, but Carol can still feel the self-hatred behind the words. She knows Tony well, and no matter how brave and infuriating the mask he puts on, she sees through it. And what she sees now is a man coming to the end of himself.

Steve takes two quick steps towards the bed, and Tony flinches back. But he stops about a meter away from Tony and activates a bluish projection in mid-air. “Your pals have been working against us at every junction. Look at that. They destroyed their last base before we got there, leaving nothing but debris and a message to taunt me.”

Tony looks at the projection with wide eyes. It shows the base they raided a few weeks back, deserted except for the holoprojection of Beast and Hulk. But when Beast starts talking, addressing Steve directly to tell him the Illuminati are as good as in his mind, Tony shakes his head. “Shouldn’t you be worrying about other things? Those guys are actually trying to save the world, you know.”

Steve’s lips curl into a snide smile, and Carol wonders for a moment if he truly hates Tony that much now or if he is just putting on a show. She has lost the ability to tell the difference. “You are the last person in the world to have any right to tell me what to worry about.”

Tony narrows his eyes, and there is a rebellious streak about his jaw. “Yes, I suppose I am. But as you seem incapable of working out the priorities here…”

Steve cuts him off. His eyes are blazing as he straightens up to his full height, towering above Tony. “You’d better stop right there. I have ways of making you talk, if you don’t comply. You wouldn’t want me to start using them earlier than absolutely necessary, would you.”

Carol clenches her teeth and balls her hands into fists. Steve couldn’t really mean that… Tony used to be his friend. But she isn’t so sure if that would keep Steve from harming Tony now, with how out of it he seems.

Tony, however, doesn’t look surprised in the slightest. He simply looks at Steve, his eyes as blue as ever, his face impassive again. “You know you won’t be the first person to torture me. And you won’t be the first to not get anything out of me. Let’s get started.”

There is a deep frown on Steve’s forehead, and he seems to consider whether to take Tony’s bravado at face value. ( _No, Steve, he is provoking you_ , Carol is yelling internally. But she doesn’t dare raise her voice, not with how Steve has been behaving towards his subordinates lately. Because that was what she was to him now, wasn’t it. A subordinate.)

When he answers, Steve sounds pensive. He speaks slowly. “If you are honest and you don’t know where they are, which I very much doubt, you will still be of use to me. You know them better than most people. Especially Richards. You can tell me how their minds work. Help me anticipate their next moves…”

Tony chuckles, darkly amused. “Oh yes, that’s one thing you do need my help for. Poor Steve, in over his head with all those super geniuses running wild…”

Carol can tell that Steve is close to exploding. He is all suppressed rage, fingering his shield. She can hear his nails scratching the surface.

She wants to run to Tony and shake him, tell him he doesn’t have to do this, he doesn’t have to make Steve hate him even more… As if Tony had ever listened to people telling him not to play the villain.

Steve’s voice is deadly quiet when he speaks up. “You will help me. And I will hunt them all down. And you will be sorry for ever associating with those people, for ever thinking you were above the rest of the human race.”

Tony’s face sets into a sneer. “Do you want to hear me _say it_ , Steve? That I am sorry? I am not. I used you. I would do it all again.”

In a split-second, Steve grabs Tony by the throat, smashing him into the wall. There is a sickening crunch as Tony’s head makes contact with the stone. Carol flinches back in shock and calls out. “Steve, stop it!”

Steve shoots her a quick look, then he lets go of Tony’s throat and instead holds his arms over his head in one big fist, pinning Tony to the wall with his other arm over his collarbone. When he talks, his voice is barely more than a whisper. But it is chilling to the bone. “How. Dare. You.”

Tony’s eyes are wide and he is struggling against Steve’s hold. Carol can hear his bones crack as Steve tightens his grip on his hands, applying what must be an excessive amount of force. A small moan escapes Tony’s lips.

Now that he is his young self again, having finally worked out a way to restore the serum inside of him, Carol knows how little it would take for Steve to just crush Tony’s wrists in his hand. And she realises she is scared of Steve. She is scared of the man he has become over the last few months, all cold fury and uncompromising authority. She hardly recognises the warm man who deeply cared about each and every member of his team anymore.

Carol is still frozen, trying to decide if she should simply blast Steve away, when Tony presses out words. “What are you waiting for, Steve? Another chance. Don’t mess it up this time.”

Steve inhales sharply, eyes glowing brightly, all feral rage and self-righteousness, and for a moment it looks as though he were honestly considering simply killing Tony. Carol makes up her mind.

She throws herself at Steve, fingers tingling with the energy surging through her, and drags him away from Tony in one quick motion. Steve is caught by surprise and struggles, but he doesn’t stand a chance against her superior strength. Tony slides back down onto the bed, taking deep, heaving breaths that sound almost like sobs. She takes one quick look at him, then grabs Steve by the shoulders and unceremoniously shoves him out the door.

It all happens in a matter of seconds. Before Steve has any chance to react, she slams the door shut behind them, then turns to face him.

Steve takes a deep breath, probably to yell at her for what she has done, but she doesn’t give him a chance.

“I am leaving, Steve.” There is an almost imperceptible tremor in her voice. She looks Steve straight in the eyes, daring him to object.

For a moment, Steve looks utterly surprised. Then he draws his eyebrows together and shoots her a dark look. He seems to be teetering on the brink of another violent bout of anger.

“What?” His voice is sharp, but Carol doesn’t flinch.

“I am leaving. I have stood by your side for months, while you became increasingly obsessed with hunting down the Illuminati. Now you have Tony, your friend Tony” – now her voice is shaking a little – “in your power, and I have to stop you from breaking his arms. Natasha and Jessica were right. You are losing it, Steve.”

Steve is clenching his teeth. And for a moment he looks as if he were reaching for his communicator, no doubt to call in some S.H.I.E.L.D. members or, even worse, some of her friends from the Avengers here to detain her.

But then Steve aborts the motion and buries his head in his hands. He leans against the wall and slides down, coming to rest in a half-sitting position on the floor.

Carol stares at his grief-stricken form. For a fleeting moment, she remembers how _happy_ Steve seemed only a few months back, how happy he was with his new team, and with Tony. How close the two of them had always been. And now… She feels the urge to just walk over and hug him.

But then Steve looks up, and his eyes are shining bright. “Why are you doing this, Carol? Why is everyone deserting me? We are friends.”

There is a hopeless note in Steve’s voice, and for a moment Carol wonders whether she is doing the right thing. But then she thinks back to Tony, broken and still defiant, Tony, who, if Steve has any say in it, will never see the sun again. And she knows she has made her choice. She can have no part of this.

“So are you and Tony, Steve.” Her voice sounds steely. Steve opens his mouth to say something, but Carol doesn’t want to hear it. She doesn’t want anything to sway her now. Before Steve gets any words out, she turns her back on him. He stays silent, only Carol’s steps echoing loudly in the corridor.

She walks out and doesn’t look back.


End file.
